Getting there
by maonip
Summary: That baby boy is her motivation. Make her want to do better. Make her want to succeed in life. If she doesn't that will mean she really is an failure, that she should have died on the side of that freeway her so called parents dumped her. She can do this. She must make her son proud. One-shots of Emma life after prison, mostly Emma. Mentions of Neal and Henry.
1. Getting out

**Getting there. Getting out.**

**Hi my name is Naomi and this is my very first story. So English is not my first language, I hope I spelt everything right, I also never went to prison so I have no idea what the real procedures are. This story will contain mostly one-shots covering Emma's time after prison. ABC has not told us enough about her and out of boredom I started to wright it myself. My style may be a little rough around the edges but it'll get better. I hope you guys enjoy it.**  
**Love Maonip.**

She has about 4 months of prison left when she returns from the hospital.

The first night completely alone in her cell is hard. Harder than she thought it would be considering she's always been alone.

But still this time it's different, this time she actually has a family member on the outside. Except he won't be waiting for her when she gets out.

He'll be with his own family. And she'll always be alone.

She promised herself to never ever let anyone close again, to never let anyone she the real her. Because the pain that comes with it is too hard to handle.

As she turns over in her bed she hopes he'll understand when he gets older. She quickly wonders if his parents will even tell him that he's adopted.

She prays that he'll understand, that all she ever wanted was for him to have a chance, to have his best chance.

She hopes he'll have friends, tons of them. And that he'll get all the toys he could ever want. She wants him to have a big family, and that everyone loves him.

* * *

Her first day back in the community room is weird too. Nobody dares to mention the elephant in the room. But the stares are there.

Some ask her how she's doing, she only mumbles back a soft "Oke".

She just picks up a new book and reads like nothing changed.

* * *

The social workers annoy the living hell out of her. They'll just won't get that she doesn't want to talk about her son. And no she won't contact the father. He gave up any right he had to their son when he set her up.

They tell her to think about what she wants when she gets out.

"I don't know" she says, and it's true she doesn't. She has no money, nowhere to go and no one to ask for help.

That's when they mention a between house. A house for people who need a little bit of help to get on their own feet. They offer counseling, courses to get her GED and they'll help her get a job.

It won't be like prison they promise her. She'll be free to go whenever she wants.

"I'll think about it" she promises them.

It sounds an awful lot like a foster home or group house. But instead of children there will be messed up adults.

But maybe she'll give it a try.

* * *

Quickly enough she only has a month of prison left.

She's sort of exited to get out, to start her life again. She promises herself that she'll be better.

She's going to finish her GED and try to get a job, first part time and then full time. She'll get there. She's going to try to make friends. Oke maybe not friends, but a few people she can hang out with without getting too close to them.

One thing she knows for sure is that's she'll never get a serious boyfriend.

Sometimes she thinks about looking for Neal, maybe she'll go to Tallahassee just to get a feel of what would have been.

A part of her wants to find Neal, because that part of her still wants to believe that it was all a big misunderstanding. That something went terribly wrong, and it's not his fault.

But then she remembers that he sold her out. That only he knew where she was and that she had one of the watches.

* * *

A few days before she's released she finds out they have her car in custody and is waiting for her when she gets out. How exactly it got there no one can say, it's just there.

In her hands she has her release paperwork en directions to the between house she'll be staying. The house is also in phoenix.

She needs to stay there until she's off probation, after that she's free to stay or go whatever she wants.

She's is slowly packing the few things she got in here. Mostly some toiletries and the sonograms and documents regarding her son.

She feels free when she looks at the yellow bug for the first time in almost a year. A part of her is surprised that it's really there.

Only now it completely hers. She'll never share it with anyone again, another silent promise she makes.

She's kind of stunned about what to do next. Out of curiosity she opens the trunk of the car.

She starts to cry at the backpack she finds there. Her backpack with stuff she took when she ran away for her last set of foster parents.

First thing she she's when she opens it is her clothes. Then comes her baby blanket and her binders with papers from foster care. She'll add her sons papers to it.

In the front is $20 and her ID, which she won't need any more as she got a new one. And $20 that probably all she ever was worth to Neal.

It makes her pissed.

Without another thought she gets in the front seat and starts to go over the directions to the between house.

* * *

After a 40 minute ride and a cheap MacDonald's lunch paid for with the $20. She gets there.

The women at the entrance welcomes her to her new "home".

"I've never had a home" she admits. "This one time I got close to having one but it didn't work out"

"Well this is the perfect place to start making one" the middle-aged woman assures her.

Emma tries to smiles back, thinking she'll never have a real home.

She doesn't even know what it is.


	2. Trying to be better

**So I've decided that these one-shots aren't going to be in chronological order. The reason for this is I don't exactly know yet where I'm going with this story, so I kind of write whenever I get inspiration. Enjoy This small chapter. **

She's sitting in the classroom of the between house. The girl in front of her in annoyingly clicking her pen.

She wants to scream at her, rip the hairs out of her head. But she can't .

The social workers keep telling her to keep her anger in check, to get the prison out of her system. She needs to fit in to society, she can't just yell every time something or someone borders her.

She sighs and tries to focus on the math homework.

But it's just too hard. She can't do this, she's dumb.

She's just dumb, and stupid, and worthless and they shouldn't even border trying to fix the mess she calls her life.

Breathe in and out, in and out, in and out. Focus.

Dammit why can't she do this. Slowly the tears come. She tries to swallow them, force them back inside.

Shit the teacher is coming her way. Shit, shit, shit. She turns the page so the teacher won't notice she's only on the fourth question.

"Emma are you okay?" She whispers.

"Yeah, sure I'm fine" Emma answers in a small voice. "It's just difficult that's all"

"You're sure that's all there is" The teacher raises her eyebrows.

Emma just looks down, not wanting to let this person see her weak.

"Why don't you just take a look at your motivation page" She says optimistic. Like just one look at the page in the back of her binder will just solve everything.

"Yes I'll do that" trying to force a smile on her face.

Weirdly enough the teacher is satisfied and decides to move to the next crying teenager.

Emma takes a moment to observe the room. It's all girls.

Some have lost her parents, just like her. Some have been to prison, just like her. Some have bad boyfriends they needed to get away from, just like her.

Than you have the group with personality disorders, and the drug addicts.

And lastly the hardest group for her to look at, the teen moms.

They all have their baby, and are learning to get by on their own. She's not part of that group.

She gave up her child, she couldn't possibly know how hard it is to be a teenage mom.

Fine, one look at the page won't hurt her. She opens her treatment binder and skips to the last page.

The page is a collage of pictures she found online and in magazines. Pictures of a beach and a big city, where she wants to live. Pictures of the kind of apartment she would like. A picture of her yellow bug, she can't wait to drive in freely again.

And in the middle is a picture of a family, a family with a little blond girl who looks kind of like her. It's her family which she is going to find.

She glances over her shoulder to check if nobody is looking. She slowly pulls up the edge of the family picture.

Under the picture is a sonogram, her sons sonogram when she was 36 weeks pregnant.

It's the last "photo" she has of her son.

The boy she loves so, so much. But she can't stand to think about too much because her hearth breaks when she does.

The boy that will always be her baby, her gorgeous baby. The one person in her life that she instantly loved.

That baby boy is her motivation. Make her want to do better. Make her want to succeed in life.

If she doesn't that will mean she really is an failure, that she should have died on the side of that freeway her so called parents dumped her.

She closes the binder and turns back the page of her workbook and looks at the math question again.

She can do this, she has to.

She must make her son proud.


	3. Birthday

**Happy 4th of July everyone!**

His first birthday hits her like a ton of bricks.

Of course she knew it was approaching but suddenly it's the day before.

She realizes this as she's sitting behind the register of her second part time job she has while being in Phoenix. The first she got fired, because she yelled at the spoiled brat of one of the customers in the diner.

But the second the costumer in front of her asks for the date her mouth goes dry and her hands start to shake.

She's thankful for the women who answers for her obviously aware of the girls discomfort. She quickly releases that she's at work at pushes the thought to the back of her mind as she finishes her shift.

After her shift she asks one of her co-workers if she'll buy her some booze. After 10 minutes the girl comes back with 2 bottles of vodka and tells her to have fun.

* * *

After dinner she quickly rushes to her room, claiming to be tired. She glances at her new backpack where the vodka is still hidden in.

She's never been one to drink much. But now she craves it. She wants to just not think for a day or two. Just forget for a little while, than she'll go back to being responsible.

The first taste of the alcohol makes her throat hurt.

She starts to cry when she's half way to the first bottle. Out of anger she slams her keys in to her mirror, and she screams into her pillow.

2 hours later the staff finds her passed out with only half a bottle left.

* * *

A few hours later she wakes up in a hospital bed with a empty stomach. She finds Megan sitting next to her, Megan is the only staff member Emma actually likes.

"Hey, how you're doing." she asks in a soft voice. "Care to explain why you thought it was a good idea to almost drink yourself into a coma."

Emma looks at the clock. "Today is his first birthday." she says it so soft, she'll hope Megan won't hear her say it.

"Who's birthday..., ooh." Megan answers. "Emma there are better ways to deal with these things." she sighs.

"I know, I know. This was just easier."

Megan now looks her dead in the eye. "I know sometime alcohol is easier, but sweetheart this isn't the right way."

"You never even told me that his birthday was coming up." "And that kind of hurts my feelings."

Dammit, now she disappointed the one person she likes. "I'm sorry." It's all she really can say.

A doctor decides to make his appearance and tells her she's all good to go, if she promises never to pull a stunt like that again.

* * *

On the way back to the house she ask Megan to make a stop at a bakery. "I want to buy a cupcake" she says in a strong voice. Megan can't argue with that.

When they get back she's forced to make some small talk with the staff. She apologizes and promises once more to never do it again.

After she goes through the drawers in the kitchen until she finds a small candle and a lighter. Megan smiles at her as she makes her way to her bedroom.

As she lights the candle she looks at the sonogram pictures she has. In her head she sings happy birthday, and goes over the list of things she hopes her son has.

After a few minutes she blows out the candle and throws out the cupcake. It's not meant for her anyway.

She smooth's out her crumpled pillow and cleans up the pieces of the mirror. Her breath catches in her throat as she finds her keychain broken.

As the pendant lies in her hand the anger and betrayal rises again. Only this time she won't run from it.

It's a part of her. Without it she'll won't be her. She searchers in her jewelry box for the empty necklace she knows she has in there.

She slowly glides the pendant on it. As she puts the chain on, she whispers one more time.

"Happy birthday, mommy loves you."


	4. First free week

**So yeah this chapter turn out to be really long. But today is my birthday so consider this my present to you guys. And maybe you can review and that'll be my present. Oke, well enjoy!**

The first week at the between house is just plain awkward. People stare and the staff and social workers are strangely nice to her.

She's surprised how many teenagers their actually are here, about 70% she guesses. It makes her unsure where she belongs in here.

Technically she's an adult, but she's still in her teens. She doesn't have a high school diploma, but she's had a baby. She's just somewhere in the middle of being a teen and an adult

The house also has a couple of different sections. They have one for ex-prisoners and runaways (the group she's in) the have one for drug addicts and people with disorders.

They also have a special building for another group, the young mothers.

The realization that that group even exists makes her stomach hurt. That could have been her. She could have kept her son.

She feels slightly better when she's told that the girls in that program are specially picked, and there was no way for her to have been allegeable for a spot.

Still she'll just avoid that building.

* * *

Her first counseling session is somewhat nice. They ask her to tell them about herself.

She starts with the fact she was found on the side of the freeway, then comes the part about her first family. She's sure she loses them by the time she gets to her fourth group home.

But still one of them seems still interested in her so she continues.

She tells them about her last foster home where she hated it so much. She felt unsafe and didn't wanted to be there for one more second. So in de middle of the day she just grabbed her things and emptied the purse of her foster mom. And took the first train to a big city. In her case Portland.

She's glad when the head therapist says they'll continue this tomorrow.

* * *

That night she can't sleep. The thought that she's free and that Neal is somewhere out there weights on her. The thought of searching for him accrues again, but she's not even sure where to start.

Phuket, that's the last thing she has on him. Although it just doesn't sound like him. He never was good with languages so she doesn't think he'll go that far away, at least not for long.

Canada is another one of her guesses. It was his original plan so why not. Maybe he stayed in Portland, with her in jail for his crimes what does he has to lose.

The last place she can think of is Tallahassee. It'll make him a asshole if he went there without her, but he already sold her out so that's to be expected.

That final thought makes her jump up in bed. Suddenly she's thirsty. She looks at the sink in her room only to find out there isn't a glass.

Slowly she sneaks through the halls, careful not to make any sound.

The second the opens the cupboard in the kitchen to reach for a glass the lights flicker on. It startles her so that she almost lets the glass fall from her hands.

"Whoa there new girl, didn't mean to scare you" it's one of the people that sat in on her session today. "You know, you can turn on the light. We actually like it that way." "It means you're not doing something illegal" she says with a laugh.

"I was just getting a glass, there wasn't one in my room" she admits somewhat shy.

"Really it's fine, I'm Megan one of the counselors here"

"I'm Emma" She takes a look at Megan, she's tall but seems young. Her sweet smile and shoulder length brown hair makes her look like a therapist, that's for sure. But still she can only be a few years older than her.

"I know we met this afternoon, remember" her voice is friendly.

"Ooh yeah right" she says slightly nervous, she just wants to get her water and back to bed.

"So tell me, you're up quite late. Something bordering you?"

Oke, seriously why is this person talking to her in the middle of the night. "Look I'm fine, I just don't like to talk too much about myself that's all I've been doing today so."

"That's understandable seeing what you went through and we haven't even got to how you ended up in prison."

Emma wants to say that it was not her fault and that she was set up but right now she can't seem to find her tongue. She just nods instead.

"I'm sure that's not a pretty story huh"

Again Emma nods letting two tears roll from her eyes. Megan places an hand on her arm. "Whenever you'll feel like talking about it, come find me. I'll always be there"

As much as she wants to believe that she doesn't. But it seems like this Megan is the first person in a long time to understand. And for now that's fine with her.

* * *

She's surprised she only finds Megan the next time she has a session.

"They thought it was better for you if we continued in a calmer setting" Megan says

Words cannot express how thankful she is for that. But all she can get out is a weak "Thanks, I guess."

"Now the last thing you talked about yesterday was Portland" "Do you want to pick it up from there?"

"Actually not really" she admits "I just want to forget everything that happened there"

"We all have stuff we want to forget, but that's not healthy. I think you know that."

She does.

"Look I'm not here to make you feel bad about yourself or to bully you. Like I said before you went through a lot." "Maybe it's time to share the weight."

"Oke, I got to Phoenix and the money I had was gone rather quickly." She starts "So I decided to steal this car, and that's how I met Neal."

"He was older and mysterious. There was just something special about him" "After a while we started dating I guess"

"Were you in love with him?" Megan asks.

"Yes I was, very much." "I would have done anything for him, I literally did." she takes a deep breath to calm herself.

"I found out that there was a warrant for him because he stole some watches"

"You're doing great Emma" Megan assures her

"I suggested that I got the watches from his stash because nobody was looking for me." "I got them and everything went fine." She has to take a few more breaths before she physically able to continue. "We had plans of starting a new live together with fake identities and the money we would get if we sold them"

"Then he went to sell them he gave me one for safekeeping" she says with a disgusting voice.

"When I showed up to our meeting spot, the cops were waiting for me." She can't hold back the tears anymore.

Megan moves to come sit next to her and lays an arm around her shoulder. She doesn't say anything.

It's nice Emma thinks, someone who just listens. And she has to admit it does feel better to tell someone.

After the tears have slowed down a bit Emma starts again "The last thing I got from him, were the keys of my car in a package from Thailand."

"I got that message while staring at my third positive pregnancy test" Emma looks up at Megan who for the first time seems speechless.

"I think that's enough for today" Megan says a little too quickly.

Emma feels conflicted when she leaves the room, unsure if she told too much.

* * *

The next day mostly consist of group therapy sessions. Some involve talking (thank god she's new and can still get away with not saying anything). But the most involve some kind of art. She must learn to express herself and according to these people art is the best way to do this.

She makes mood and dream boards, and has to make a motivation page. They ask her to wright poems and songs, and all these are things she hates.

She's never been one to openly express all her feelings.

And all this crap just makes her feel uncomfortable. Especially now that only tears cum out whenever she seems to talk. It's like giving birth made her this weak little girl who only can cry about her problems. Like what happened to her, she was never like this.

She rather focusses on getting a GED and a job. But whenever she asks someone to help her with that, they brush it of by saying she's not ready yet.

* * *

Her next session with Megan is a few days after the last. The staff found out that she talks to her so they don't set her up with anyone else as Megan has her days off.

Before her session she decides to put a sonogram picture in her pocket. A small part of her wants to show off her child, she guesses.

Butt Megan is late, with means she has to wait outside the office for a little while.

From the hallway she can hear a small cry, the cry of a child. She knows what that sounds like. She can easily recall her sons cries as one of the nurses took him out of the room.

Just as she starts to walk in the direction of the sound, Megan turns around the corner.

"Hey, sorry I'm late." she says as her hands fumble with the lock of the room. "Come in, sit where ever you like."

Emma takes a seat on the couch.

"So Emma, tell me. How did you experience your first week here." Megan asks trying to smooth out her hair.

"It's oke I guess, it's a lot of therapy like things. I don't know how I feel about that." She made a deal with herself that she'll be completely honest from now on.

"Oke what do you suggest?"

What does she suggest, what that's supposed to mean. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you mean by that"

"You're not happy with the help we provide for you, what would you like to be different." Megan says with a serious look.

"Oke, look I get this hole finding yourself philosophy may work on the rest." "But the only reason I'm here is to learn how to take care of myself."

"I want to learn how to do my laundry, what I need to do to get my GED and I want you to help me get a job so I can move out of here."

Megan give a few nods throughout her speech "I understand that you want to move forward with your life, especially after getting out of prison." "But you need to understand that we can't help you with any of that stuff until we know you and get you emotionally stable."

"Look I don't have a mental problem" Emma argues.

"Emma some of the stuff you went though is hard, I'm not saying you need help with them." "I'm finding out if you need help with them"

Emma looks down, accepting defeat.

"Other than that, is there anything else you don't like about this place." Megan tries to make her voice sound lighter.

"I don't like this building" Emma says feeling ashamed.

"What's wrong with the building" her laugh makes Emma feel even more embarrassed

"It's the people that are being helped here I have issues with." She's trying her hardest to be subtle.

"Ooh I'm sorry Emma, I didn't realize that having our sessions in the building with our young mothers might make you feel uncomfortable" Megan looks at her apologetic ."I'll have them moved to the other building"

"Look it's fine, I need to learn to be around babies someday right" Emma jokes before turning serious.

"Do you think it'll ever get easier." She's insecure of what Megan will say about that.

"I think it's always going to be something that hard and maybe a sensitive subject for you, but it'll get easier as time passes."

Emma reaches for the photo in her pocket, and takes another look at him. After a minute or so she hands to photo to Megan. "That's him"

Megan studies the picture with a small smile on her face.

"Do you have any pictures from after he was born" She asks after a while.

"No I don't, I never looked at him" Emma looks away, not wanting to look anyone in the eye as she admits "I knew if I looked at him, that I would have kept him." "I... He deserves better than two loser parents"

"I proud of you Emma. What you did for your son is amazing" Megan is still looking at the picture

"Why would you say that when it's not?" Emma says with disbelieve. "Most people just look at me like I chose the easy way out"

"Nothing is an easy way out of a pregnancy. I know people who chose abortion or parenting, and they both face the same issues you do." "And trust me, no matter what a teen decides, people will always say they chose the easy way out."

"I doubt that" Emma says with a grunt.

"No really Emma, people will tell who you are your whole life. There always people who will say you gave up, that you're too weak." There she is with that sweet therapeutic voice of hers.

"Than what do I do?" Emma asks feeling more hopeless with the second.

"You just gotta punch back and say, "No, this is who I am." Because sweetie, if you want people to look at you differently? Make them." " You want to change things you are going to have to go out there and change them yourself because there are no Fairy Godmothers in this world."

She's right, when has her life ever been easy. Never. When did some one ever gave her an easy option to anything.

It made her strong, tough. "Well, I know you're right." "My life has never been an fairytale"

"And I know I did the right thing by giving him up for adoption, he's better off this way."

Megan smiles "Now I like how you started that sentence but I didn't like how you ended it."

"But, you'll get there"


	5. First friend

**So this is just a cute little story, btw if any of you have ideas please send them to me.**

The between house has a gorgeous garden. She comes here a lot to think. She likes the quit peaceful glow that hangs there.

Sometimes she brings pen and paper, she makes doodles and writes letters to her son or her parents. She even writes down her thoughts on different things, Megan asked her to do that. She's thinks that by writing down is the best way to sort out you thoughts and analyze them so that you can make the right decisions.

She always has to laugh when she thinks about all the physiological artsy stuff they make her do. But she decided not to take it to seriously anymore, she kinds of goes with it. Megan told her the other counselors see progress and if she just keeps doing it like this she'll move up in no time.

As always Megan is right, tomorrow she's going to meet with a teacher. They're testing her to see how far she is with her school work and will give her a personal plan to get her GED.

So overall it's been a pretty good week.

"Do you like soccer" a small voice asks her.

The sound makes her jump a little in her seat before she takes a look at the small boy who's standing next to the bench.

"Uhm, sorry kid where's your mother" She panics

"Over there, talking to her friend" the little boy giggles and points across the garden "I'm Josh"

Emma still stares at the mother hoping she'll realize her son is missing and get him away from her.

"You're new here right" "I know because I never see you with friends"

Emma is still shooting daggers at the mom, which seems to be working because the mom suddenly looks around for her son. She sees him standing by Emma and starts to walk over to them.

"I thought maybe I can be your friend" Josh is still rambling on.

"Josh, how many times have I told you. You can't just walk away" the mom sighs obviously tired. "But mom, I was just making a new friend" Josh exclaims as he's being pulled away by his arm.

She stares after the two only blinking as the boy gives her a small wave.

* * *

She forgot how much she hates math. She working on the math test and most of these problems and formula's she has never even seen before.

God why did she dropped out of school in her junior year again. Ooh yeah she ran away from home. She just couldn't deal with it anymore. That family really sucked, for her that's reason enough to forgive herself .

Focusing back on the test, find x. She hovers the mouse over the x, simple enough right she thinks jokingly.

In the back of her head she remembers the teacher telling her that it's not about passing. It's about them knowing how far she is. And the longer the test takes the better she does.

Sighing she presses the pass button on the screen so that she'll get the next question.

By now she doesn't even care about the math test. It was never a good subject for her. She liked English and History and she also never minded Social Studies. But any class that required a calculator she automatically hated.

Four questions later the test is finished.

She looks up to give the teacher a sign she's done when she sees the mom again. Josh is not within sight. So she guesses that's she here for her own school work.

She doesn't look like a high scholar. Maybe she goes to college. She certainly looks smart, it makes Emma wonder what happened to her.

The teacher notices her "Thanks Riley, I'll look over it when I'm done here" When the girl "Riley" walks away he asks her.

"So was it hard?"

"Yeah harder than I thought it would be" Emma tries to mimic his easy going laid back voice. "It makes me wish I would've stayed in school longer"

"For some people it's not really a choice huh" he smiles back.

Emma doesn't like the way he says that like he knows her. It makes her wonder what else he knows about her.

"I read your file" he conforms for her. Emma wants to ask what he read be decides against it.

"How did I do" she asks

"Okay, let me just pull those up for ya" settling down at his desk

"On your English you did really good actually. Math we need to work on." He continues "Tomorrow you have Science and Social Studies"

"I'll see you then" she says before exiting the classroom.

* * *

Being in school has a lot of pro's. She has more activities which seem to make the day's go by faster, she has more contact with other people which pleases the counselors here. And she gets to borrow a laptop so that she can do her homework outside of the classroom.

But she mostly uses it to surf online outside. Her favorite past time, google-ing stuff about herself.

She'll grab her folder and searchers for clues about her parents. She wants to find them, and look them in the eye while she asks them, Why? Why did they leave her to die. Why did they made her a blanket if they didn't want her. Why wasn't she good enough.

She's kind of stuck. Nobody ever claimed her. No one besides the little boy who found her seems to know about her parents.

So she tries to find him. Which she finds out later is impossible seeing as if none of the files mention him, other than the newspaper clipping.

While being focused on her folder she doesn't notice the girl that sat down next to her on the bench outside, not until she hears a small boy voice "Hi"

"Uhm hi" Emma answers to the Josh as well his mother.

"Hi I'm Riley" the mom says as she hoist up Josh to reposition him on her lap. "Josh told me your new here"

"Yeah, I'm Emma" she says while closing her laptop.

After a quit moment Josh decides to fuss on his moms lap saying he wants to play.

"Cute kid" Emma says while watching Josh run off to the playground.

"Thank you" Riley sighs "So how long have you been here"

Looking in Josh's direction Emma mumbles "About a month"

"Me and Josh have been here for… 7 months now" Riley starts. Emma's silence seems to be a reason for Riley to continue

"I had him when I was 16, my parents forced me to marry his father." "The guy got abusive after a while so I divorced him, my parents disowned me afterwards." Riley has certainly mastered the dramatic tone Emma thinks. "So then we moved here" She smiles like she's proud of being at a government provided facility for mess-up's.

"Heavy stuff" Emma tries not the sound to jokingly. Not wanting to insult the girl who just told her life story to her.

"So why are you here?" Riley asks after a short time has passed.

"Uhm, I went to jail" Emma answers shifting awkwardly in her seat, avoiding eye contact.

"Why did you went, if you don't mind me asking" Riley asks a little nervous.

"Possession of stolen goods" she trails off "Hey, is Josh allowed to go there" Emma mentions while looking at the little boy who seems to be making his way to the back fence.

"Shit" Riley mutters racing to the boy.

Emma's watching the girl marsh across the garden before strictly talking to the boy as she makes her way back to the bench.

"Sorry about that" Riley says as she sits back down "Seriously never start on children they're a burden." She says with a laugh.

Emma's face falls. She doesn't even know how lucky she is. She gets to hold her baby, watch him grow up. Emma thinks, releasing a breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Realizing she made a mistake "Ooh sorry, I didn't know it was a sensible topic for you" "Do you have any children?" asking with a sweet voice.

"No, I don't." She tells Riley, who's starting to get on her nerves with all her questions "I just gave birth to one, but he's not mine."

"Ooh, didn't you want him." "I can't imagine giving up Josh, I guess I just love him to much." Riley has this semi-fake bewildered look on her face

"Of course did I want him." she yells startling both Riley and Josh "But not everyone has the same options as you, some people have their son get taken from them because everyone including themselves believes that their not capable of taking care of them." She doesn't even try not to sound bitchy as she packs her stuff to leave.

"It was nice meeting you" she barks over her shoulder as she storms out of. From now on she'll stay far away from the playground.

* * *

Megan approaches her in the while she's in the kitchen getting dinner ready for her group, and asks if she has a minute. After getting the counselors permission to go, she follows Megan into the hallway.

"So I heard you had a little fallout with one of the young moms" Megan start giving her a knowing grin

Her eyes go wide "Omygod, that bitch tattled on me" "How old is she, ooh let me guess probably her sons age" raising her voice.

Megan shushes "Emma, now you don't have to be so rude about it. Riley was really upset about what happened"

"You're taking the drama queen side" failing to keep her voice down like Megan asked.

Giving a small smile "Oke, maybe you're right and Riley is known to exaggerate sometimes." "But I thought we had a deal and to be understanding." Emma gives a annoyed sigh as Megan continues.

"You don't want people to know your story Emma and that's fine, but you have to get that there will be moments that they'll say something that gets your feelings hurt." "Not because they want to, but because they don't know."

"Fine" Emma gives in.

"I'm pushing my luck to far if I ask you to apologies to Riley huh." Megan smirks while rubbing her shoulder.

"Ohyeah, not happening" She laughs walking back to the kitchen.

* * *

Looking around in the hallway, Emma gives a annoyed sigh. For an organization that's supposed to help her become an adult they sure aren't punctual because Megan is always late.

When she turns her head again she sees Josh walking to her.

"Hey Emma" he says his voice sounding small an shy.

Walking closer to her "I'm sorry, I didn't mean for you to get mad"

She kneels down "Hey, you didn't do anything. It was all me" she makes sure to look him in the eye. "Sometimes I'm just a little cranky" making a little silly face that makes him laugh.

"Will you still be my friend" Emma hates that he sounds so insecure.

"Of Course" extending her hand so he can shake it.

"Josh" a voice yells from the living room at the end of the hall. "I have to go, bye Emma" he yells over his shoulder running back at the direction of the voice.

She sees Josh around the house two or three more times. After not seeing him or Riley for some time she finds out that they moved out.

Ah Whatever, she was never good at keeping friends anyway.


End file.
